


The Lab

by UAs_Fics



Series: Pre-Game [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-13 03:02:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10505064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UAs_Fics/pseuds/UAs_Fics
Summary: Asgore brings the sixth human soul to the Royal ScientistPrequeal to The Basement





	

Title: The Lab  
Fandoms: Undertale  
Summary: King Asgore brings the royal scientist the sixth human soul  
Rating: T  
Ships: N/A  
Content Warning: Character Death  
Other: A prequel to 'The Basement'

The sharp scent of blood permeated the cool air of the room as the King of Monsters shouldered the door open. He had long ago come to hate this room of the lab. It was nothing more than a testament to his sins.  
“Your Majesty.” The royal scientist waved an upturned palm to an extraction chamber that was, once again, much too big for it's intended subject.  
Slowly, Asgore made his way to the chamber. Heaving a burdened sigh, he squeezed the limp body in his arms gently. He swallowed back the lump that was forming in his throat and set the little girl down into the chamber. Her coffin. One of her pigtails had come undone during their battle. Asgore reached down to part her loose hair into three sections. He started to braid but stopped with a sudden recollection: A child in a striped sweater laughing at him as he twisted their hair into uneven, messy braids. Asgore jerked his paws to his chest. A shudder ran through him.  
Gaster nudged past him to position the girl's hands over her chest. He reached to pull the top of the casket over and latch it closed. The scientist pulled a long tube down from the ceiling, attaching it to the heart-shaped extraction piece. He tapped the top of the chamber twice with his bony fingers. There was a spring in his step as he lead the king away from the chamber toward a supercomputer.  
On one of the three screens, a camera feed showed the form of the extraction chamber with a dimly flashing heart on top. On the middle, changing numbers and calculations were wildly scrolling in one window, a crosshairs of four camera feeds, each displaying a different region of the Underground, in another. The final screen was empty of active windows. Asgore couldn’t help but notice the background. He almost smiled at the wallpaper; Gaster and his two sons around a newly crafted snow-dog. The youngest skeleton was sat atop the snow-dog’s head, his father supporting his back with a gentle hand; the eldest son leaned against the dog's base. They were all so hopeful looking.  
The King's attention was torn from the warm family scene by the whirring of gears as the machines hooked up to the extraction chamber hummed to life. Lights flashed as the chamber rattled on its table.  
“Amazing, simply amazing...” Gaster muttered to himself as he tapped against his keyboard; “Such determination.” The connection tube suddenly stiffened as the extraction process began.  
Asgore turned his head away, lifting a paw to the side of his head so he would not be tempted to look at the screen. He hated this part. The coffins always shook so much. Asgore was sure the child inside was trying to escape--sure that he was causing the poor little thing more pain than he already had.  
A high pitched scream came from the machine as the girl's soul was pulled from her corpse.  
Asgore felt light headed and nauseous. _It will all be over soon,_ he told himself, _just a few more moments._  
As soon as he had reassured himself, the machine began to slow and the screeching faded. Asgore heard the clicking of Gaster's shoes against the tile floor as he ran to the chamber. The scientist laughed with the giddiness of a young boy. The monster king followed him.  
Inside a glass cannister, a human soul floated.  
“A yellow soul this time. Green last time. Human souls are surprisingly varied.” Gaster ran a hand down the side of the container.  
“Yes.” Asgore let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. “Wingding.”  
The scientist raised his gaze from the soul to the king. “Yes?”  
“How many more do we need?”  
“Only one more.” Gaster smiled widely, but tried to hide it. “One more and we can counteract the magic used to create the Barrier. One more and you will become a god.” Gaster’s white-pupiled eyes flashed behind his glasses as he spoke.  
“Dr. Gaster...” Asgore paused in thought for a moment then turned his back to Gaster.  
Gaster frowned. Asgore only ever called him by his title when they were trying to keep up professional appearances. “Yes, King Asgore?”  
“You were born just before we were driven underground, correct? That is, you were just a child when the War ended.”  
“Yes. I've spent more than two thirds of my life down here.” Gaster responded, a certain bitterness in his voice. “I do not wish for my sons to spend as much of their lives here as I have. You, as a father, should understand how I feel about the matter.”  
Asgore squared his shoulders then let out a curt breath. “I do. But, you didn't see what happened during the War. You didn't see the horrible things humans did to monsters. They killed so many of us... Families, friends, the elderly--not even children were safe, Dr. Gaster. They didn't care then; after all this time, I doubt they're tune has changed. Especially not once they find out how we destroyed the Barrier.”  
Gaster took a step forward, putting a firm hand on Asgore's shoulder. “With you as a god, they will have no choice but to leave us al--”  
Asgore spun around, his lips pursed, brow furrowed. “No, they will not! Human's never give up, even in death.” He pointed to the soul in the container. “Look at that soul. Still full of life. If it still had a body, I bet my crown it would still be trying to kill me! Trying to escape!” He rested his paws heavily on Gaster's shoulders. “If we leave the Underground, they will defeat us. Seven human souls bound to a monsters', or hundreds of thousands bound together against a common enemy. Who will win?”  
Gaster didn't immediately respond. At a loss, he looked deep into the king's golden eyes. He gasped, “You're scared.” Gaster clenched his hands. “You don't want to break the Barrier. You don't want to free us!”  
“N-no!” Asgore held his hands out. “You don't understand, Wingding! It would be safer for everyone if we stayed down here. Please, old friend, I've spoken many times to Gerson about this, to other monsters who fought in the War. They agree with me.”  
Gaster lowered his head. “Get. Out. Of my lab.”  
“Wingding,” Asgore reached out.  
“I said get out!” Gaster spat.  
Asgore stumbled back at the scientist's sudden outburst. He opened his mouth a few times before letting out a sigh. His shoulders slumped in defeat. “Alright. I will...talk to you later, Dr. Gaster.”  
Gaster heard the soft sound of the King's footsteps as he exited the lab. Once the footsteps faded away, the skeleton held his face in his hands, shaking with rage. How could this be? The king wanted to trap everyone down in this hole? Keep them here until monster kind went extinct? Until there was nothing left of their existence but some crumbling buildings and dust? “That damn Barrier,” Gaster slammed his fist against the wall. He turned back to his desk and slumped down in his chair. His jawbone ached from gritting his teeth so hard.  
This day had started with so much promise. Just a few hours ago, he had planned how he was going to tell his sons that they were one step closer to breaking the Barrier. How their father was so close to showing them the sky. He had spent his time preparing the extraction chamber imaging the excitement in his sons’ eyes. When his eldest boy saw the real stars, not the twinkling stones in the cavern ceilings or constellation drawings in a book. Or his youngest's expression being able to feel the real wind on his bones, not the stale cave wind that sometimes blew through Waterfall.  
Gaster leaned forward, his gaze falling onto the screen with his family set as the wallpaper. “No,” he whispered. “If the king won't take the souls into himself and become a god, then that coward was right: Humans will be able to defeat him with ease.” Gaster pushed his glasses back up his nose in thought. “His guilt would drag his defense into the dirt, even with the power of the seven souls. But, what if...” He rubbed his chin then pulled up some data on his computer. “What if a monster who didn't feel guilt or fear towards humans wielded the souls? Would they be able to defend us?” Scanning the data, he let out a sigh. “No, unless a monster had a high ‘Level Of Violence’, they would feel guilt towards killing humans.” Gaster muttered a curse at the empathy within a monster’s soul.  
He leaned back in his chair, crunching the numbers in his head. His gaze fell on a vase of flowers. His eye sockets widened. He reached over, pulled a flower out of the vase. The king had brought them to brighten up the lab, claiming they had grown from seeds that had come back down with his son from the surface. Asgore said he had stored some of the seed away, hadn't he?  
Maybe a monster could not defend monsterkind from humanity's wrath, but what about something that was not a monster nor a human? Could something without a soul, that can't feel guilt for what it’s doing, be the key to breaking the Barrier? To wielding the seven human souls? To giving monsterkind a chance at carving out a niche for themselves above ground?  
Gaster rolled the flower stem between his fingers, chuckling to himself. “Heh. Don't worry, my boys, I'll make sure you get to see the outside world, whether it's by the King's hand, or something else's.”

**Author's Note:**

> Wooo, three kinda downer fics in a row, gotta write a butt ton of fluff to balance it out sooner or later.
> 
> Anyway, this was orginally planned to be a KingDings fic, and was planned well before the Basement fic, but I suppose fate at other plans. XD I hope you all enjoyed my take on some pre-game lore and stories. I keep this series going, but who knows. ^-^
> 
> Also a big many claps to my awesome beta K, who lovingly help edit this into a presentable work of fanfiction you just read! 
> 
> -Michelle


End file.
